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The Tuesday Morning Scene in Cairo

Egyptians in Tahrir Square look up at a helicopter flying over their heads at the start of a protest in Cairo.

By MARGARET COKER and CHARLES LEVINSON, with Shereen El Gazzar, Summer Said and Tamer El-Ghobash.

Egyptians from around Cairo filed into the city’s central Tahrir Square on Tuesday morning, gathering for a massive day of protest to press long-time President Hosni Mubarak to step down.

The army established a heavy presence in the center of the capital, and a military helicopter flew over the square, but troops didn’t try to stop people from gathering. At checkpoints on major roads leading into the square, soldiers asked pedestrians for identification and checked for weapons, but otherwise let them pass unmolested.

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On the outskirts of Cairo, there were isolated reports of police forces stopping busloads of citizens and activists from reaching the protesters downtown. A group of activists made up mainly of university professors organized buses of supporters to come into Cairo, but at least two of the buses were stopped at Interior Ministry police checkpoints along the Giza road on the outskirts of the city.

Plainclothes security forces took people out of their buses and told them they could go no further. The activists say they’re trying to find a new route into downtown Cairo.

Protesters have called for a million-person march on the Presidential Palace, about 10 kilometers from downtown Cairo, to call for an end to Mr. Mubarak’s 29-year rule. They shrugged off an offer by the embattled president Monday night to discuss political reforms. Opposition parties said they wouldn’t negotiate as long as Mr. Mubarak remains in office.
Protesters had yet to begin moving toward the palace late Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, the mood in Tahrir Square was considerably lighter than that which prevailed during the fiery clashes at the end of last week. Around daybreak, organizers set up a large screen on which they projected Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel and played music as the crowds gathered.
In neighborhoods around the square, small tea shops and cafes were open for people to get nourishment and caffeine ahead of what was expected to be a long day.

Elsewhere in the capital, people said supplies of basic commodities such as sugar, rice, salt, pasta, bread and flour are running short. Supermarkets were posting signs saying such items are out of stock. Local bread ovens first raised prices to EGP 1 per loaf (usually its 10 or 15 piasters), and now they are running out of flour.